Bushmills proved to be a very interesting area. Just outside the town is the famous UNESCO site of the Giants Causeway which has unusual rock formations caused by lava flows.
Giants Causeway Pillars
Giants Causeway
Also nearby is the ancient town of Dunluce, which the MacDonnells once called their home and castle.
Dunluce Castle....home of the MacDonnels
If you look closely, you can see an old longship etched into the rock, here at Dunluce Castle, near a lookout post.
And of course the famous Bushmills Distilllery. Even though we'd visited seven distilleries in Scotland, we needed to compare here....so yet one more tour was in order.
Lesser known is a laneway overgrown by unusual tree formation known locally as the Dark Grove.
Driving in the "Dark Grove"
Besides admiring the local scenery we received help from a number of locals and managed to find the birthplace of Linda's grandfather and the marriage information for his parents. We also found several WW1 remembrance plaques in honour of him and two of his brothers (Linda's great-uncles). Several churchyards and graveyards had to be closely inspected, with a few interesting headstones found, and which will require a bit further research. We met with a fellow who had authored 9 local historical books, who led us to further investigate some other churches in the area. We were finding enough to warrant staying in the area a bit longer, so stayed at a B&B in Bushmills area for one night, and then in the nearby town of Coleraine for yet one more, where we could visit the library, with it's research facilities and (yes – you guessed it – microfilms and microfiche!) . That took a full day.
It was then time to continue on to see a bit more of Ireland before our remaining week ran out. So we wound our way westward, still following the coast, and then entering the Republic of Ireland, viewing the ancient walled city of Derry. With a bit more time to explore, we continued west and north, onto the west coast of Ireland, and found ourselves entering a much hillier terrain, with some great sea vistas.
Seaside Vistas
By late afternoon we'd stopped in the seaside resort and surfing community of Bundoran. We picked a hotel on the waterfront, planning on getting an ocean-view room – but the room we ended up with faced a non-descript brick wall. Ah well.....hard to look at the view when your eyes are closed, anyways.
The surfing/resort town of Bundoran
Next day we decided to cross back to the east side of Ireland, as time was running short......and we needed to check out the fair city of Dublin. By staying off the main roads we were able to wind our way through some pastoral countryside, dotted with sheep, hills, villages, and lots of green valleys. Early afternoon found us crawling in very heavy traffic all proceeding into Dublin. When we'd made it into the city, we learned that there were no rooms to be had for love nor money, as there were football games in progress, and the rock group “Take That” were in concert, with fans travelling in from all over the country. So we had a very short visit, taking a hop-on, hop-off tour bus around the city, before heading out. 30 miles north of the city, we still couldn't find accommodation, and the day was getting a bit long in the tooth! So we continued back across into Northern Ireland again, finding a B&B just north of the border in Newry (actually, the only way to tell you've crossed is the speed/distance signs on the highway go from KM to miles). So we hadn't seen a lot of the southern part of Ireland – I guess we'll just have to go back and spend more time! But we still had two days left, so followed the coast road along the Mourne peninsula, passing several more castles and seaside vistas, and even took a ferry ride across a Lough (aka Loch, aka Lake). We ended up near the village of GreyAbbey which has, strangely enough, a very old Abbey dating back about 1000 years – those monks were very busy back then!
An old Irish Fishing Village, with traditional whitewashed homes.
Next day found us heading back toward Belfast for our last day in Ireland. One particularly interesting stop was a museum commemorating the WW1 battle of the |Somme, in which the Irish Regiments were particularly involved (as were Linda's grandfather and gt-uncles). We had to stop at the Oldest Pub in Ireland for lunch. They tell us they have documentation to prove that they are indeed the oldest, although we had seen two other pubs also advertising the same claim. On the outskirts of Belfast, we'd planned to stop and visit the Titanic exhibit (she was built here), but the museum turned out to be closed on Mondays. So back to our hotel in downtown Belfast. We'd already scoped out a nice little pub for dinner, where we had to have Irish Stew for our last dinner in Ireland.....followed by and Irish coffee, before retiring early. Early is the watchword here, as we had to get up at 0430 for our morning flight the next day, returning to Glasgow.
We were able to check our bags at our hotel in Glasgow the next morning, even though we couldn't yet check in. Then it was a bus ride into town to walk in the rain around the town, and to try and finish off a few of our “things to do” in Scotland. For example, we'd heard that Glasgow was famous for its deep-fried Mars bars.....but now I'm guessing that it is some kind of urban legend, as we couldn't find this delicacy anywhere, and most people turned up their noses at the thought of it. We'd also tried to find, and try, as many different Scottish ales. In reality, although we were able to find and try about a dozen different ones, most of them were only average to below average tasting, and usually we were the only ones drinking them.....the locals seem to prefer Budweiser or Heineken! So we did try a few more ales, along with brunch, before busing back to our airport hotel for an early evening.
Again, we were up quite early, to check in for our flight home. After checking through security, we had a bit of time to kill.....hence able to catch up on the blog, but unable to upload it. So this last section has been written in the holding area for our flight.
Writing from home before posting : It was a long, smooth, but uneventful flight home. Clear skies welcomed us into B.C., with awesome views of the Rockies, and onto the coast. Our first warm sunny day of the trip was in Vancouver, as we took the Skytrain and bus to the ferry, and sailed across the Strait of Georgia to be met by our friend Tony, who'd been minding our car. A warm visit with Tony and Barb, and a barbecue, and we were too tired to stay up. Early to bed, and then up early the next day, for a short drive home. The opening of Costco has started a gas war at home, and we were able to fill up with gas at a savings of over 15 cents/litre. But now that we're home, I guess it's time to sign out of the Blog, at least until the next trip. Time to prepare for another sailing trip.
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